“Go see the world you said. Let’s make our parents proud and do some good for the world you said,” grumbled Dowe towards his wildly grinning brother.

“Yeah isn’t this grand?” said Beton as he leaned out one of the cannon port holes.

“But we have no idea what land that was, or how those shipwrecked Horde and Alliance got there.”

“Awesome huh? You could just feel the energy of that place in the air,” said Beton with a bit of wonder in his voice.

Dowe shook his head at his brother’s dreamy attitude. Suddenly an explosion reverberated through the gunship and the ship started to list.

*ALL HANDS TO EMERGENCY STATIONS, THE SKYSEEKER IS MAKING A CRASH LANDING*

“I was hoping there would be some fun on the trip back! Watch your back”

“And you watch yours,” Dowe then added, “You’ve got an odd idea about what is fun.”

More explosions rocked the gunship forcing it to violently list towards the port side. One moment Beton was standing there, the next he’s flying or at least not falling as fast as the heavy airship.

“This is awesome!” yells Beton as he bounced off the ceiling in a near weightless state.

“Grab onto something, don’t just float there grinning! We’re about to die!”

Everything not bolted down was being tossed about the hold and Dowe lost sight of his brother. Before he can call for him though, a frying pan flew out of the galley colliding with his head.

*CRASH*

The next thing Dowe realized was that he was being picked up and carried out of the ship by something large and furry. Was it a Tauren? Did the horde prisoners get loose?

As he opened his eyes, an oddly colored large bear was standing over him. On two legs. ‘This is it,’ he thought, ‘I survived and airship crash to be eaten by a bear.’

“That’s him! Thank you! ” yelled Beton as he ran over to his brother.

“How are we still alive?” groaned Dowe

“Well I noticed some stowed bedding and climbed into the middle of it. I think I bounced out of the ship after impact. I found, … uh … you said your name was Da Na right? Well I found her as she was on her way to check out the crash.”

The pandaren, Da Na nodded in response to Beton’s explanation.

“After she healed my arm, she called for more of her people and they started searching the wreckage for survivors.”

“So you climbed into bedding, how am I alive?”

“Maybe you’re just lucky?”

Da Na finished dressing the worst of Dowe’s wounds. Then took a step back to examine her work.

“So … where are we?” asked Dowe.

“You’ve crashed upon Shen-zin Su, a giant turtle, known among our people as the ‘Wandering Isle.’ Unfortunately this crash has injured him and before long we’ll be dragged into the Maelstrom,” explained Da Na.

The following days were filled with effort as the horde and alliance temporarily put aside their conflict and worked with the Pandaren to figure out how to prevent the isle’s eventual destruction. Eventually they came to the conclusion that the best course of action would be to remove the wreckage then use the powers and abilities of the healers present to heal the wound.

As part of their healing process, Da Na suggested that the brothers join her daily meditation and martial arts training.

“I can’t believe you think it’ll be better to use a large amount of explosives to solve this problem,” Dowe whispered to his brother.

“Shh, we’re supposed to be meditating … Ohmmmmmm … Besides everything is better with some fireworks, but it’s a matter of timing, if we don’t do this quickly we could all die here.”

One of the Pandaren Elders walked over at the end of the meditation session and addressed those who were present, “We are ready to begin, the explosives are in position but just need to be primed. If you are not skilled in the healing arts be prepared to provide protection; this explosion is bound to attract some unwanted attention from the Deepscales which have been hounding us since Shen-zin Su began to drift off course.”

“You’ll be bored in no time, plus Uncle is waiting for us in Stormwind,” Beton stated while patting his brother’s shoulder.

As the two brothers raced towards the crashed ship, they notice that the elder was wrong. It didn’t take the explosion to attract the attention of the Deepscales, somehow they seemed to know that corrective action was about to occur, and they moved en-masse to take the territory around the crashed gunship.

The token garrison around the gunship had been forced inside the wreckage and the Deepscales were moving in for the kill, when all of a sudden a wave of fighters charged in from the forest surrounding the ship. The Horde and Alliance with their new ally, the Pandaren, moved as one unified force to push the Deepscales back and away from the ship.

Beton charged forward without fear, barreling into a Deepscale relieving him of his spear. Dowe followed quickly behind stabbing another through its back while it was in middle of bringing its sword around to slash at Beton. The clash and clang of weapons is soon joined by the noises of spellcasting.

The brothers find themselves standing back to back, Beton’s acquired spear and Dowe’s sword deflecting or killing the Deepscales that approach them.

Suddenly a goblin appeared in their midsts, “We need to get those explosives ready, here take these and help me,” he said as he shoved primers for the explosives at Beton, who in turn was forced to drop the spear. Just as quickly as he appeared, the goblin disappears with a bang leaving only smoke behind.

“Dowe, watch my back!” yelled Beton as he ran to the nearest pile of explosives. A few moments later it was connected into the growing network of explosives around the ship. Without checking behind him, Beton rushed over to the next pack of explosives and began to add them as well.

While moving to keep up with his brother a thought sped through Dowe’s mind, ‘Is it me, or are these things getting better at fighting?’ As if to answer his question a sword-wielding Deepscale dropped off the side of the ship in front of him and drove him back into the general melee. After dispatching his opponent, Dowe scaned the conflict attempting to locate his brother. Just as he sees him, a pair of Deepscales charged at Dowe. He sidestepped the first lashing his blade across its spine, but barely blocking a downward swipe from the second.

Meanwhile, Beton finished using the last primer he had and noticed that most of the explosives were connected to the network. He took a quick moment to look around the conflict for his brother. Instead of seeing his brother, he noticed a Tauren who was unaware of a Deepscale about to leap off the side of the ship drop onto him spear first.

Just as he dispatched another Deepscale, Dowe saw his brother sprinting at a Tauren.

Beton yelled, “Lookout!” as he shoved the Tauren out off the way.

Dowe can only scream his brother’s name as the Deepscale didn’t bother to adjust his attack, and drove his spear through Beton’s chest. The Tauren recovered a moment later and killed the Deepscale.

Da Na rushed in, collects Beton’s body and attempted to keep him alive as she ran away from the ship.

As Dowe moved to assist them, the ship explodes knocking Dowe off his feet, filling the air with smoke and shrapnel.

Once the dust has cleared Dowe’s lost sight of Da Na and his brother, but before he can go looking for them, he realized he must do what’s needed to do and protect those healing Shen-zin Su. Deepscale after Deepscale leapt at the healers, but eventually the combined power of all the druids, priests, shaman, paladins and pandaren monks are enough to stop the bleeding and allow the Shen-zin to heal. Recognizing they’ve lost this fight, the Deepscales retreated back into the ocean.

While everyone is celebrating Dowe ran over to where the injured were moved to and sees that same Tauren kneeling before his brother’s body.

“Your brother has joined others who have given their lives this day,” stated Korga Strongmane, “These sacrifices have given us all the chance to live on.”

Eyes filling with tears, Dowe collapsed onto his knees next to his brother’s body, “why did you have to be such a goddamned hero...they always end up dead.”

“He saved my life in the process, the Horde shall remember his deed.”

“Can you at least bury his body in Lordaeron? Our family used to live there before the wall went up and the plague broke out,” asked Dowe.

Korga stiffened for a moment at the request, but nodded his head, “I will make sure your brother’s body is safely buried in your former homelands.”